"Tour Our Home" Feature

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am working on a "tour our home" feature on my sidebar. This button has been there a while, but it used to take you to all my posts related to my home. Now, it will take you to a separate page with before, in progress, and (someday) after pictures.



I just added new pictures of our family room. Here they are:







You'll see some little changes - I added the leather pillow to Charlotte's chaise. You may also notice the ottoman looks different. I won't get into it, but I've been having issues with my upholster's work and there were issues with the ottoman. I also added the IKEA task light next to the sofa.

Still so much to do... but hopefully this is an easier way to help you see the progress!

Click here or the button on the right hand sidebar!

Serendipity

Yesterday I had a very serendipitous experience and came across the same fabric twice in one day. Sure this could just be called a "trend" but it always makes me go "hmm...".

Yesterday morning while drinking coffee and eating pancakes I was watching an old (but new to me) episode of Sarah's House. It was this living room re-do. I've been a fan of her cane fabric chairs for a while:



Then last night while reading before bed, I came across the same fabric in the March 2010 issue of Country Living:



I had one of those "why didn't I think of that?!" moments - I love the playful idea of using a cane-patterned fabric on a cane back chair. I just reupholstered a cane back chair for Slate... I sort of wish I had done this instead. Oh well! (will share that chair soon).

There is nothing new about this fabric.. it's been used a lot and around for a while. But seeing it twice in one day reminded me how I really like it.

It's called "Garden Lattice" by Waverly and it's less than $20/yard!




This past weekend my husband and I finally finished painting the upstairs hallway. We painted it "White Dove" by Benjamin Moore which is a pretty, soft white. That leaves only three more rooms in our house that needs painting! The upstairs bathroom, the laundry room and the "baby's" room. It's sort of a joke between my husband and I that we call it the baby's room, because there is no baby and we aren't planning for one for a while. But when we do have one, that's where we'll put it. Right now we use it for ironing. haha!

I'm currently working on putting together a picture house tour page for the blog. It will all be "in progress" pictures.. but I thought it'd be fun. Sort of like this.

Happy Monday! (and wow - I just realized it's the last day in Feb. Yikes!)

The Ocean Rug

I got an (automated) email from House Beautiful with this beautiful home in it. I was instantly captured by the beautiful blue rug. Doesn't it look like the ocean?



So, so pretty. I can tell you without actually knowing that it costs a fortune.

I wonder if this rug from Overstock would create a similar look. From what I can tell, it's pretty good looking and it's a dhurri which I like.



Just some random interior design curiosity on a Friday. :)

"The New Gray" Design Board

Remember my post about "the new gray"? You can click here to refresh your memory. Well, when the room pictures came over for this design board I knew this color would be PERFECT in the space.



The e-decorating client loved the paint. Success!

An Etsy Gem

I stumbled upon this Etsy store via Kirsten. What a gem I have found!

The shop is called "giardino" and sells many different things. But my favorite are her hand blocked fabrics:











My favorite favorite is this thistle fabric:



I think I need it in my home, yup!

A Trip Back In Time

I stumbled upon this home via the CLTblog twitter feed. The tweet said there are two pre-1850 homes for sale in Charlotte right now. This is pretty rare because there are only around 5-10 in the city.

I followed the link to this article. Which led me to the discovery of these images of one of the homes for sale. (Isn't the internet great?)

If I had $1.2 million laying around, I would buy this home in a HEARTBEAT. The owners restored the home and it is breathtaking! It's just how I imagine 1850 would look but with modern plumbing and electricity.

I'm not sharing the pictures so much for the decor (although it definitely fits the house), but for the house itself. It's just breathtaking. I wouldn't change a thing, I would just move in some modern furniture mixed with antiques (just like American Modern) and call it a day.

Okay enough with the chatter, check out these pictures.























Doesn't it just make you want to put on a long dress, tie your hair up in a bun and pop out 10 kids???

And here is the crazy part - although it looks like it's out in the country, it's 5 minutes to one of my favorite shopping centers that has Home Depot, Staples Pier 1 and Starbucks. Definitely the best of both worlds.

Click here to see more!

Powder Room Plan

I know I haven't yet finished the Master Bedroom, but I've "started" another new project in my home. Don't worry the bedroom is ALMOST done. I just need to get the settee reupholstered and the dresser painted.. and then I will be able to put it all together. Yayyy!

Remember the lucite chairs (how could you forget??) Well, even though it pained me so, I did sell them. Before you disown me, let me explain. We are in DIRE need of updating our powder room. It's embarrassing guys. If you need a refresher, here is what it currently looks like:



1990's-era hunter green wallpaper with a floral border is bad enough.. but then add popcorn ceiling dust and ceiling paint and it goes from bad to terrible.

Selling the lucite chairs was a blessing.. now I can finally update this bathroom and stop apologizing for it when guests need to use the restroom.

I've written about the powder room before here. I've known for a while I've wanted to paper the room in grasscloth. I decided on this grasscloth sample I ordered:



I recently saw that this mirror from Wisteria is majorly on sale. (Good news - it still is!!).




I placed the order and it's been sitting my in my dining room waiting to be hung. It's so pretty with the grasscloth.. love it.



And here is the board I created for the room:



I do have good news for you guys though - I sold the chairs to a friend of mine! She is going to have them recovered in a fun laminated fabric and promised me I could share the before and afters on the blog. Yay!

Ten Minutes

Ten minutes is all it took to quickly update our new secretary (yup, definitely keeping it. I love it!)





I had this marbled paper laying around and it worked really well with this piece.

I didn't have double-sided tape on hand so I just used regular table and rolled it (like you did back in elementary school).

I did it pretty haphazardly so I'll probably re-do it with real double sided tape in the future.. but for now it gives it a cool update. And it took all but 10 minutes!

"Precious Metals" Design Board

If I named my design boards, this would most certainly be called "precious metals" because of the mix of cool grays and warm golds.

This room is LARGE. Luckily, my client has the room for a great round pedestal table in her entry - something I LOVE and not everyone can do.







Click here if you'd like a design board of your own!

The February Giveaway Winner!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post the Feb giveaway. I've been wanting to but haven't had the time until now.

Congrats to Erica from alleande.blogspot.com!



Thanks to everyone who entered! Erica please email me your address so I can send you your goodies!

The Master Diaries: Chapter 4

See Chapter 1, Chapter 2 & Chapter 3.

This chapter we're talking about pillows. Since I work two days a week at an interior design shop I didn't have to go far for pillows.

This Kevin O'Brien pillow sat upstairs in the design loft since I started working there last May. I knew it'd be PERFECT for my master bedroom:



It will sit on the settee at the end of our bed (especially since it's a REALLY nice pillow. I love Charlotte, but I don't trust her shedding fur and sharp nails near it).

I knew I wanted to throw another color into the mix, and that inspiration came from this Ann Gish pillow:



I love the color, but the pillow was a bit too formal (silky) for our space.

I took this ruffle teal pillow home on approval, and it was perfect. LOVE!

[ omg I'm so embarassed at our wrinkly pillows. please ignore ]

Yesterday I told you I was going to paint this dresser:



Well, when I brought home the teal ruffle pillow a light bulb went off and I decided to paint the dresser to match!!

I don't have the exact color yet (I'll probably color match it straight to the pillow), but it will be somewhat similar to this:



Still left to complete:

- get dresser painted
- settee upholstered
- art
- mirror above dresser
- accessories

Weekend Acquisitions

On Saturday my husband and I got up early and headed down to South Carolina for some treasure hunting. We went to our very first auction to find a dresser for our master bedroom. It was SO FUN.

I had never been to an auction before but I have always wanted to. I did the bidding and it sure is a bit intimidating! Especially when you get in a bidding war, which happened with our dresser. But luckily I walked away with this beautiful antique for only $280:



I am going to have it professionally painted. It may be a sin to paint an antique, but it can always be refinished and stained later down the road.

I also won this awesome art deco secretary. Look at that inlay and glass front detail!!! I had to have it. I just need to give her some TLC and she will be good as new.



It would look so cool if the inside of the glass front was painted or wallpapered...

[ lonny ]


[ cottage living ]

I will admit, I originally bought the secretary for the booth but I am thinking of keeping it for our living room. Right now there are exactly three pieces of furniture (the two black chairs and the black painted dresser at the entry). I think this piece would fit in nicely. Still undecided...



After the auction, I headed to the Habitat for Humanity Re-store. Mr. Goodwill Hunting posted on twitter some amazing copper pendants for $60. I gasped and knew I had to go and pick some up.



Funny story about these... right when I got to the store I picked them up and brought them to the counter to hold while I shop. I always do this at thrift stores because you just never know! Well good thing I did, while I continued to browse I saw a young man peeling the stickers off. I thought - maybe he's lowering the price! So I asked him and he actually was RAISING the price! From $60 to $100. I told him I already brought mine up to the front at the $60 price and they honored it. That was close! (another funny tidbit - they were taken from a local Longhorn Steakhouse restaurant.)

I haven't decided where to put them yet. Either in our upstairs hallway or maybe our kitchen. Probably the hallway though, because we need more overall light in the kitchen.

It was a super successful weekend!!! Tomorrow I'll post my plan with the dresser and some other details in another chapter of The Master Diaries :)

ps - thank you thank you thank you for all the kind words on yesterdays post. I really means a lot to me! I heart you guys :)

bryn alexandra interiors: Living Room Before & After

Good morning my Valentines!

I'm excited to share this recent project of mine with you. This living room is in a bungalow full of character built in the early 1900s. When I first walked in I immediately became smitten over the original molding and fireplace. The beautiful architecture of this home made my job easy :)

The room had already been painted and furnished when the owners called on me for help. They just needed some assistance finishing it up.

Here are some BEFORE shots:







Since the dining room is open to the living room and front door, I wanted the two spaces to work seamlessly together. To make this happen, I brought in the navy blue of the dining room into the living room.

Here is the dining room (which was all done by the home owner - she did a great job!!)



This is the original plan I showed to the home owners. It changed a little but I thought you'd enjoy seeing the creative process.



And here are the AFTERS!



The biggest change in the room was adding new patterns and colors for the sofa pillows. The back pillows have a navy quatrefoil pattern and the blue pillows are almost a perfect match to the wall color. So much better than the original brown that came with the sofa!











I added a ready made bookcase from Home Decorators and customized it by adding new knobs and paint. The paint is the same navy blue that's used in the dining room.





We kept the existing TV stand and updated it by adding new polished nickel pulls. It's amazing what new hardware can do!



The chairs were also existing, but I had them recovered in a pistachio green fabric. The rug is a navy and tan stripe (it looks black in some photos but is navy).





I love doing subtle repeats in rooms (that probably only I would notice). There is a chevron pattern on both the brown pillows on the chairs and the blue pillows on the sofa.





The entry mirror was a flea market find by my client. When I told her to silver-leaf it I think she was a little hesitant, but it turned out perfect!!





There is the owner's sweet spaniel, Samantha!



These plates were a One Kings Lane find. They are hand painted and I had them framed in shadow boxes.

And here are some more detail shots...







Sorry for the excessive amount of pictures! I loved them all so much it was hard to narrow down selections for this post.

All images were taken by the talented photographer Tish Mackay. If you ever need a photographer in Charlotte, she is fantastic! She shoots the usual - weddings, engagement sessions, newborns and now interiors :) One major talent she has is shooting pets. Here is another shot of Samantha:



I also want to tell you guys about my awesome client Sara who lives in this beautiful home with her husband Ryan. They were a DREAM to work with. Sara is a talented event planner here in Charlotte and is one half part of the Hall & Webb Event Design team. Check out their site here and their blog here.

Like what you see? I'm available for local and out of town projects. Email me at bryn@brynalexandra.com.

I hope you all have a great Valentines Day! We don't really celebrate so no plans here. But I will be announcing the February giveaway winner later today :)